Sonnets to Orpheus

Song Cycle by Walter Arlen (1920 - 2023)

1. Only One Who has Lifted the Lyre  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Only one who has lifted the lyre
 [ ... ]

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2. Does He Belong Here  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Does he belong here? No, from both
realms his ample nature has grown.
One to whom the roots were known
could bend more deftly the willow’s growth.

Never leave milk on the table or bread
when you go to sleep; that lures the dead.
But let him who conjures them to rise,
under the gentle lids of his eyes

mix their ghosts with all he perceives;
may the spell of fumitory and rue
be real for him as the clearest things.

Nothing impairs the image that’s true;
be it from houses, be it from graves,
let him praise bracelet, pitcher, and ring.

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Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus I.6, 8, 9, 11, 12, II.12, 18, and 28, in: Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, with English translations and notes by C. F. MacIntyre, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960


Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

3. O come and go

Language: English 
O come and go
 . . . . . . . . . .

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4. Be in Advance of All Parting

Language: English 
Be in Advance of All Parting
 . . . . . . . . . .

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5. Even Though the World Keeps Changing  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Even though the world keeps changing
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1 Diamond: "wider"

Total word count: 225